ROCHESTER – Right now, Buffalo Sabres legend Ryan Miller is busy interviewing goalie prospects and writing reports, his final preparations for the NHL Draft.
Later this month, Miller, 44, will be in Texas watching prospects at the World Under-18 Junior Championship.
These days, Miller, who retired in 2021, works as a goalie scout and development coach for the San Jose Sharks. It’s a job, given his long and successful career and cerebral approach to hockey, he seems perfectly suited for.
Sharks general manager Mike Grier, a popular former Sabres winger, allows him to keep a schedule so he can stay connected to his wife and their two children.
“So it’s kind of like I’m still really there in dad mode,” Miller said Friday prior to his induction into the Americans Hall of Fame in Blue Cross Arena.
In his development role, he usually does on-ice work in the first half of the season and the summer. He transitions into scouting in the second half, examining video of prospects.
When he scouts live events, he sometimes reconnects with old teammates and others in the game he respects. In Texas, former Sabres winger Thomas Vanek, an amateur scout for the Sharks, will be working alongside him.
“So it keeps me connected to the game,” Miller said. “That’s been really nice to still have something like that.”
During his playing days, Miller seemed destined to become a coach or a front office member someday. His current role allows him to watch how some higher-ups operate.
“Getting to see the other side of things and being privy to conversations and learning how things work on the other side of things has been great,” he said. “It’s trying to, like, increase my knowledge in all those areas and be a contributor to the Sharks and learning about the other side of things. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Returning to Rochester, where he played three seasons and enjoyed a dynamic 2004-05 campaign, was a special experience. He hadn’t been back in the city in nearly 20 years.
Miller’s 41-win, eight-shutout season during the NHL lockout 20 years ago remains one of the greatest in Amerks history. That deep, highly skilled team also featured Vanek, Jason Pominville, Derek Roy and others who would play key roles as the Sabres emerged from the work stoppage equipped for a slew of rule changes that created a faster game.
“We were a team that was ahead of the curve,” said Miller, who backstopped the Sabres to the Eastern Conference final in 2006 and 2007.
Miller, who played 18 games for the Sabres in his first two years, said the cancellation of the NHL season “kind of took away the distraction.” With no recalls possible, players knew they would be in the AHL all year.
“We had a group of guys who were comfortable with each other, comfortable with where we were at in the world, here in Rochester, and we had a lot of fun,” said Miller, whose No. 30 was retired by the Sabres in 2023. “We’re working toward something, but it’s always within elements of we’re all doing together. And winning is fun, right?
Miller said he and his teammates “built a great culture.”
“We had a good time doing it,” he said.
Notes: The Sabres, who had Monday off, host the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at KeyBank Center. … The Sabres on Monday assigned goalie prospect Scott Ratzlaff to the Amerks. Ratzlaff, 20, recently completed his junior career with the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds. The Sabres drafted him in the fifth round in 2023, 151st overall. … Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters in Florida defenseman Owen Power, who suffered a lower-body injury in Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Panthers, will be out “a while.”